Technical Cooperation

Project Name:

Aquaculture Project (Kiribati)

Project Description:

More than 40 years ago, the government of Kiribati constructed an 80 hectare fish farm near to Bonriki International Airport for the purposes of rearing baitfish for longline tuna fishing operations and for providing food security. However, a number of factors thwarted the success of the project in its early stages, including a lack of fish feed and unstable supplies of fry.

Since 2004, the project has been revived following a new Technical Cooperation Agreement signed between Taiwan and Kiribati, and will see the Taiwan Technical Mission develop Ambo Aquaculture Center as a breeding center for milkfish fry.

Appraisal found that the development of milkfish aquaculture in Kiribati had stalled for a number of reasons: (1) unstable supplies of fry; (2) the failure to establish artificial breeding and feed production locally; and (3) a lack of facilities adequate to support artificial breeding.

In assisting Kiribati to develop milkfish aquaculture, the main components of this project will include: (1) the promotion of milkfish production for extension, tuna fishing and the repopulation of natural stocks; (2) aquaculture training; (3) capacity building for I-Kiribati technical personnel in aquaculture-related skills.

Specific project work components will include: (1) production of 30 million fertilized milkfish roe; (2) production of 3.4 million larvae; (3) production of 200,000 milkfish for use as tuna baitfish and 320,000 milkfish for the repopulation of natural stocks in waters around outer islands; (4) the organization of 18 aquaculture workshops for 600 participants; and (5) species-specific feed management, live feed culture operations and the transfer of fry-raising techniques to local technicians.

Implementation Start Date:

2011/1/1

Implementation End Date:

2016/12/31

Project Objectives:

The objectives of this project are:

Breed a stock of milkfish, enable natural spawning of milkfish stock to an annual output of 10 million fertilized eggs and an annual output of two million milkfish fry.

Transported and released 20,000 milkfish fry into waters around four outer islands as part of the repopulation program.

Used locally sourced raw materials for the production of fish feed, improving the quality of local feed production operations and reducing production costs from AUS$0.80/kg to AUS$0.60/kg, a 25 percent reduction.

Conducted pre-engineering work for larvae ponds that require the filling of 1,700 tons of sand and gravel.

Organized three aquaculture training workshops for a total of 100 participants.

Repaired of the trainee dormitory (72 m2).

Transferred skills such as the production of fish feed, the culture and management of broodstocks and breeding management on to local project personnel.

In 2012:

Treated milkfish broodstocks with two hormone injections.

Carried out natural spawning of milkfish stock to an annual output of 0.5 million fertilized eggs.

Completed filling and compaction work with 4,000 cubic meters of sand and gravel.

Built a new seawater supply system, installing two water pumps and 400 meters of pipe.

Produced 2,000 liters of rotifer medium.

Mass produced live feed for consumption by 300,000 fry.

Produced 10,300 milkfish fry.

Conducted trial breeding and produced 10,000 baitfish.

Transferred fish feed-related know-how on to local stakeholders, including 18 sessions involving practical operations and 18 sessions on probiotic culture.

Organized three aquaculture training workshops for a total of 100 participants.

Repaired the observation dormitory (100 m2).

In 2013:

Continued to monitor milkfish broodstocks, which naturally spawned for 165 days during the year, producing approximately seven million eggs.

Produced rotifers for the consumption of 0.5 million milkfish fry.

Distributed 60,000 milkfish fry as part of the repopulation program and for breeding at Eco farm.

Produced 3,000 liters of rotifer medium.

Completed production of 100,000 milkfish fry.

Produced 10,000 baitfish for use on longline tuna vessels.

Transferred know-how on the management of milkfish broodstocks and live feed production techniques on to local stakeholders.

Organized three aquaculture training workshops for a total of 135 participants

In 2014:

Continued to monitor milkfish broodstocks, which have naturally spawned for 162 days to date this year, producing approximately 15.06 million eggs.

Produced 320,000 milkfish fry.

Released 220,000 milkfish fry in waters around outer islands and Tarawa for the recovery program and for breeding purposes.

Completed three aquaculture training workshops at Nonouti Island and Eco farm for the benefit of 102 participants.

Transferred know-how on the management of milkfish broodstocks, fry breeding and live feed production techniques on to local stakeholders.

Produced 15,000 baitfish for use on longline tuna vessels.

To sign contract with construction company for the construction of concrete ponds.

In 2015:

Continued to monitor milkfish broodstocks, which have naturally spawned for 86 days to date this year, producing approximately 23.2 million eggs.

Produced 910,000 milkfish fry.

Released 250,000 milkfish fry in waters around outer islands for the recovery program and for breeding purposes.

Completed three aquaculture training workshop for the benefit of 100 participants.

Transferred know-how on the management of milkfish broodstocks, fry breeding and live feed production techniques on to local stakeholders.

Produced 50,000 baitfish for use on longline tuna vessels.

In 2016:

Continued to monitor milkfish broodstocks, which have naturally produced approximately 19.3 million eggs.

Produced 2,000,000 milkfish fry.

Released 1,000,000 milkfish fry in waters around outer islands for the recovery program and for breeding purposes.

Transferred know-how on the management of milkfish broodstocks, fry breeding and live feed production techniques on to local stakeholders.

Project Type:

Technical Assistance and Capacity Building

Projected Benefits:

The construction of concrete ponds will be a great benefit in establishing mass production techniques for milkfish fry.

Successfully establishing standard procedures for breeding milkfish fry should resolve the problem of gathering unstable supplies of fry from the wild. In particular, operations will assist and enhance the development of the food fish and baitfish culture industries, as well as the milkfish recovery program on outlying islands, providing direct and indirect benefits to the people of Kiribati and all South Pacific nations.

Successfully establishing a body of technical know-how associated with fish feed will facilitate the development of the aquaculture industry in Kiribati. In addition, this know-how can be extended to livestock, which will benefit many other farmers by reducing the need to import thousands of tons of animal feed from other countries.

The production of food organisms is crucial to the success of any fish fry breeding program, so successfully rearing a local stock of rotifers represents a key point in the development of the program. In the future, the construction of rotifer ponds will provide sufficient rotifers to support the breeding of five million fry.

The successful propagation and culture of milkfish will support self-sufficiency, thereby ameliorating food security-related problems, while transferring technical know-how to local staff will meet their demands for technical assistance.